The Pagan Madonna Page 8

  CHAPTER VIII

  Cleigh sat before a card table; he was playing Chinese Canfield. He lookedup, but he neither rose nor dropped the half-spent deck of cards he heldin his hand. The bronzed face, the hard agate blue of the eyes that methis own, the utter absence of visible agitation, took the wind out ofDennison's sails and left him all a-shiver, like a sloop coming about on afresh tack. He had made his entrance stormily enough, but now the hotwords stuffed his throat to choking.

  Cleigh was thirty years older than his son; he was a finished master ofsentimental emotions; he could keep all his thoughts out of hiscountenance when he so willed. But powerful as his will was, in thisinstance it failed to reach down into his heart; and that thumped againsthis ribs rather painfully. The boy!

  Dennison, aware that he stood close to the ridiculous, broke the spell andadvanced.

  "I have come for Miss Norman," he said.

  Cleigh scrutinized the cards and shifted one.

  "I found your note to her. I've a launch. I don't know what the game is,but I'm going to take Miss Norman back with me if I have to break in everydoor on board!"

  Cleigh stood up. As he did so Dodge, the Texan appeared in the doorway tothe dining salon. Dennison saw the blue barrel of a revolver.

  "A gunman, eh? All right. Let's see if he'll shoot," said the son, walkingdeliberately toward Dodge.

  "No, Dodge!" Cleigh called out as the Texan, raised the revolver. "You maygo."

  Dodge, a good deal astonished, backed out. Once more father and son staredat each other.

  "Better call it off," advised the son. "You can't hold Miss Norman--and Ican make a serious charge. Bring her at once, or I'll go for her. And theLord help the woodwork if I start!"

  But even as he uttered the threat Dennison heard a sound behind. Heturned, but not soon enough. In a second he was on the floor, three huskyseamen mauling him. They had their hands full for a while, but in the endthey conquered.

  "What next, sir?" asked one of the sailors, breathing hard.

  "Tie him up and lock him in Cabin Two."

  The first order was executed. After Dennison's arms and ankles were boundthe men stood him up.

  "Are you really my father?"

  Cleigh returned to his cards and shuffled them for a new deal.

  "Don't untie him. He might walk through the partition. He will have thefreedom of the deck when we are out of the delta."

  Dennison was thereupon carried to Cabin Two, and deposited upon thestationary bed. He began to laugh. There was a sardonic note in thislaughter, like that which greets you when you recount some incredibletale. His old cabin!

  The men shook their heads, as if confronted by something so unusual thatit wasn't worth while to speculate upon it. The old man's son! They wentout, locking the door. By this time Dennison's laughter had reached thelevel of shouting, but only he knew how near it was to tears--wrathful,murderous, miserable tears! He fought his bonds terrifically for a moment,then relaxed.

  For seven years he had been hugging the hope that when he and his fathermet blood would tell, and that their differences would vanish in a stronghandclasp; and here he lay, trussed hand and foot, in his old cabin, not acrack in that granite lump his father called a heart!

  A childish thought! Some day to take that twenty thousand with accruedinterest, ride up to the door, step inside, dump the silver on that oldred Samarkand, and depart--forever.

  Where was she? This side of the passage or the other?

  "Miss Norman?" he called.

  "Yes?" came almost instantly from the cabin aft.

  "This is Captain Dennison. I'm tied up and lying on the bed. Can you hearme distinctly?"

  "Yes. Your father has made a prisoner of you? Of all the inhuman acts! Youcame in search of me?"

  "Naturally. Have you those infernal beads?"

  "No."

  Dennison twisted about until he had his shoulders against the brass railof the bed head.

  "What happened?"

  "It was a trick. It was not to talk about you--he wanted the beads, andthat made me furious."

  "Were you hurt in the struggle?"

  "There wasn't any. I really don't know what possessed me. Perhaps I was abit hypnotized. Perhaps I was curious. Perhaps I wanted--some excitement.On my word, I don't know just what happened. Anyhow, here I am--in adinner gown, bound for Hong-Kong, so he says. He offered me ten thousandfor the beads, and my freedom, if I would promise not to report hishigh-handedness; and I haven't uttered a sound."

  "Heaven on earth, why didn't you accept his offer?"

  A moment of silence.

  "In the first place, I haven't the beads. In the second place, I want tomake him all the trouble I possibly can. Now that he has me, he doesn'tknow what to do with me. Hoist by his own petard. Do you want the truth?Well, I'm not worried in the least. I feel as if I'd been invited to somesplendiferous picnic."

  "That's foolish," he remonstrated.

  "Of course it is. But it's the sort of foolishness I've been aching forall my life. I knew something was going to happen. I broke my hand mirrornight before last. Two times seven years' bad luck. Now he has me, I'llwager he's half frightened out of his wits. But what made you think of theyacht?"

  "We forced the door of your room, and I found the note. Has he told youwhat makes those infernal beads so precious?"

  "No. I can't figure that out."

  "No more can I. Did he threaten you?"

  "Yes. Would I enter the launch peacefully, or would he have to carry me? Ididn't want my gown spoiled--it's the only decent one I have. I'm notafraid. It isn't as though he were a stranger. Being your father, he wouldnever stoop to any indignity. But he'll find he has caught a tartar. Ihad an idea you'd find me."

  "Well, I have. But you won't get to Hong-Kong. The minute he liberates meI'll sneak into the wireless room and bring the destroyers. I didn'tnotify the police from a bit of foolish sentiment. I didn't quite want youmixed up in the story. I had your things conveyed to the consulate."

  "My story--which few men would believe. I've thought of that. Are yousmoking?"

  "Smoking, with my hands tied behind my back? Not so you'd notice it."

  "I smell tobacco smoke--a good cigar, too."

  "Then someone is in the passage listening."

  Silence. Anthony Cleigh eyed his perfecto rather ruefully and tiptoed backto the salon. Hoist by his own petard. He was beginning to wonder. Cleighwas a man who rarely regretted an act, but in the clear light of day hewas beginning to have his doubts regarding this one. A mere feather on thewrong side of the scale, and the British destroyers would be atop of himlike a flock of kites. Abduction! Cut down to bedrock, he had laid himselfopen to that. He ran his fingers through his cowlicks. But drat the woman!why had she accepted the situation so docilely? Since midnight not a soundout of her, not a wail, not a sob. Now he had her, he couldn't let hergo. She was right there.

  There was one man in the crew Cleigh had begun to dislike intensely, andhe had been manoeuvring ever since Honolulu to find a legitimate excuse togive the man his papers. Something about the fellow suggested covertinsolence; he had the air of a beachcomber who had unexpectedly falleninto a soft berth, and it had gone to his head. He had been standing watchat the ladder head, and against positive orders he had permitted a visitorto pass him. To Cleigh this was the handle he had been hunting for. Hesummoned the man.

  "Get your duffle," said Cleigh.

  "What's that, sir?"

  "Get your stuff. You're through. You had positive orders, and you let aman by."

  "But his uniform fussed me, sir. I didn't know just how to act."

  "Get your stuff! Mr. Cleve will give you your pay. My orders are absolute.Off with you!"

  The sailor sullenly obeyed. He found the first officer alone in the charthouse.

  "The boss has sent me for my pay, Mr. Cleve. I'm fired." Flint grinnedamiably.

  "Fired? Well, well," said Cleve, "that's certainly tough luck--all thisway from home. I'll have to p
ay you in Federal Reserve bills. The old manhas the gold."

  "Federal Reserve it is. Forty-six dollars in Uncle Samuels."

  The first officer solemnly counted out the sum and laid it on the palm ofthe discharged man.

  "Tough world."

  "Oh, I'm not worrying! I'll bet you this forty-six against ten that I'veanother job before midnight."

  Mr. Cleve grinned.

  "Always looking for sure-thing bets! Better hail that bumboat with thevegetables to row you into town. The old man'll dump you over by hand ifhe finds you here between now and sundown."

  "I'll try the launch there. Tell the lad his fare ain't goin' back toShanghai. Of course it makes it a bit inconvenient, packing and unpacking;but I guess I can live through it. But what about the woman?"

  Cleve plucked at his chin.

  "Messes up the show a bit. Pippin, though. I like 'em when they walkstraight and look straight like this one. Notice her hair? You never tamethat sort beyond parlour manners. But I don't like her on board here, orthe young fellow, either. Don't know him, but he's likely to bust theyacht wide open if he gets loose."

  "Well, so long, Mary! Know what my first move'll be?"

  "A bottle somewhere. But mind your step! Don't monkey with the stuffbeyond normal. You know what I mean."

  "Sure! Only a peg or two, after all this psalm-singing!"

  "I know, Flint. But this game is no joke. You know what happened in town?Morrissy was near croaked."

  Flint's face lost some of its gayety.

  "Oh, I know how to handle the stuff! See you later."

  * * * * *

  Cleigh decided to see what the girl's temper was, so he entered thepassage on the full soles of his shoes. He knocked on her door.

  "Miss Norman?"

  "Well?"

  That was a good sign; she was ready to talk.

  "I have come to repeat that offer."

  "Mr. Cleigh, I have nothing to say so long as the key is on the wrong sideof the door."

  Cleigh heard a chuckle from Cabin Two.

  "Very well," he said. "Remember, I offered you liberty conditionally. Ifyou suffer inconveniences after to-night you will have only yourself tothank."

  "Have you calculated that some day you will have to let me go?"

  "Yes, I have calculated on that."

  "And that I shall go to the nearest authorities and report this action?"

  "If you will think a moment," said Cleigh, his tone monotonously level,"you will dismiss that plan for two reasons: First, that no one willbelieve you; second, that no one will want to believe you. That's as nearas I care to put it. Your imagination will grasp it."

  "Instantly!" cried the girl, hotly. "I knew you to be cold and hard, but Idid not believe you were a scoundrel--having known your son!"

  "I have no son."

  "Oh, yes, you have!"

  "I disowned him. He is absolutely nothing to me."

  "I do not believe that," came back through the cabin door.

  "Nevertheless, it is the truth. The queer part is, I've tried to resurrectthe father instinct, and can't. I've tried to go round the wall--over it.I might just as well try to climb the Upper Himalayas."

  In Cabin Two the son stared at the white ceiling. It seemed to him thatall his vitals had been wrenched out of him, leaving him hollow, empty. Heknew his father's voice; it rang with truth.

  "I offer you ten thousand."

  "The key is still on the outside."

  "I'm afraid to trust you."

  "We understand each other perfectly," said Jane, ironically.

  The son smiled. The sense of emptiness vanished, and there came into hisblood a warmth as sweet as it was strong. Jane Norman, angel of mercy. Heheard his father speaking again:

  "Since you will have it so, you will go to Hong-Kong?"

  "To Patagonia if you wish! You cannot scare me by threatening me withtravel on a private yacht. I had the beads, it is true; but at this momentI haven't the slightest idea where they are; and if I had I should nottell you. I refuse to buy my liberty; you will have to give it to mewithout conditions."

  "I'm sorry I haven't anything on board in shape of women's clothes, butI'll send for your stuff if you wish."

  "That is the single consideration you have shown me. My belongings are atthe American consulate, and I should be glad to have them."

  "You will find paper and ink in the escritoire. Write me an order and Ipromise to attend to the matter personally."

  "And search through everything at your leisure!"

  Cleigh blushed, and he heard his son chuckle again. He had certainlycaught a tartar--possibly two. With a twisted smile he recalled the oldyarn of the hunter who caught the bear by the tail. Willing to let go, anddaring not!

  "Still I agree," continued the girl. "I want my own familiar things--if Imust take this forced voyage. But mark me, Mr. Cleigh, you will pay someday! I'm not the clinging kind, and I shall fight you tooth and nail fromthe first hour of my freedom. I'm not without friends."

  "Never in this world!" came resonantly from Cabin Two.

  Cleigh longed to get away. There was a rumbling and a threatening insideof him that needed space--Gargantuan laughter. Not the clinging kind, thisgirl! And the boy, walking straight at Dodge's villainous revolver! Why,he would need the whole crew behind him when he liberated these two! Buthe knew that the laughter striving for articulation was not the kind heardin Elysian fields!